Possible changes in brain metabolites in motor neurone disease/amytrophic lateral sclerosis (MND/ALS) were investigated using 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). A series of normal, healthy volunteer controls and MND patients have been studied using a spin echo (SE) 135 ms sequence, acquiring spectra from the region of the motor cortex. A further limited series of studies have been made for similar groups of volunteers and MND patients using a STEAM 20 ms sequence (stimulated echo). Analysis of the SE 135 ms spectra indicates there are statistically significant differences in the ratios of N-acetyl-aspartate to creatine and N-acetyl-aspartate to choline between controls and MND patients. Furthermore, metabolites identified using the STEAM 20 ms may be of great importance in the investigations of free radical mediated mechanisms, which have been postulated as being important contributors to the disease process. Preliminary results indicate that 1H MRS may provide important data to help understand the disease processes in MND and it could form a useful method for monitoring the effects of future trial treatment regimens.

Serum fructosamine and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1) were measured in capillary samples from diabetic children and compared with samples from non-diabetic children. Glycaemic control was assessed clinically and by average daily glucose values recorded by home monitoring. Fructosamine correlated with HbA1 and with average glucose values measured over 30 days. HbA1 also correlated with average glucose values measured over 60 days. Changes in fructosamine with time tended to parallel those of HbA1, and advance indication of deteriorating or improving glycaemic control was possible by observing changes in these. Fructosamine has many advantages over HbA1 measurement such as speed, technical ease, and low cost, and is a reliable alternative to HbA1 estimation as an indication of glycaemic control.